EPZs are developed as premium real estate property and they are leased to businesses which are in the export oriented manufacturing sector, it makes sense to have a private university within each of these zones. This policy, if adopted, could be a perfect opportunity to create a marriage that benefits both. Lets look at different aspects of the proposal in details:
1. Private universities can afford to pay for the premium real estate, so it should not be a problem.
2. This would require some capacity development within the BEPZA Authority to adapt the age old model of labor usage only. The new model will have to updated to the changing nature of our industries – update the labour with knowledge generation. This is not to say that all the labour will be going to those universities, rather the graduates of those universities will be easily recruited by the industries within the EPZ. This would be helpful for the employers also, since the students can do their internships in this industries which makes them perfectly ready for the jobs by the time they graduate.
3. There is an increasing need for the industries in EPZ to develop local capacity – which is demonstrated by the fact that the industries regularly send labours from the host countries to the originating countries like Korea or Japan or Malaysia. With the presence of a well furnished up-to-date private university would enable the industries to transfer some of the training facilities to the university campuses.
The list can go on – but you get the idea. We really really hope that the concerned authorities will listen to this suggestion. We also hope that the big investors and stakeholders in different EPZs (specifically those from Japan, Korea and China) will be willing to adapt to this modification and try out the new model. If this can be done, it could be a hard-wired link that would strengthen the innovation-ecosystem of Bangladesh manifold.
A note to the NBR Chairman, make a portion of the investments/donations in these universities tax deductible.
If you thought some of the ideas are worth of your reading time, please forward it to others. If you have an ear to the columinsts in regular traditional media, please forward it to them. If you have an ear to the journalists and news editors of the electronic media, discuss it with them. Hope they would look at the suggestions and give due diligence.